Comments made by a former high-ranking official from the Sudanese Security and Intelligence Services have sparked tribal tensions in eastern Sudan. The official, casting doubt on the identity of certain tribal components, described components of a specific tribe in eastern Sudan as refugees from a neighboring country. He suggested that their Sudanese citizenship should be immediately revoked. These statements have been labeled as “racist” by various social, political, and civil forces, accusing them of fueling hate speech. Supporters of the former regime, associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, are blamed for attempting to destabilize the region amidst ongoing national conflicts.
Retired Major General Badr al-Din Abdel Hakeem, the former head of security in Kassala state, has been specifically criticized for these remarks. The comments have provoked widespread anger among significant social components with a large demographic presence across the three eastern states (Red Sea, Kassala, and Gedaref). This led to youth from the concerned tribes organizing mass meetings in Port Sudan and Kassala, demanding that the security official, currently abroad, be legally accountable for his statements that question their Sudanese affiliation.
Sources close to the social components report that the former security official’s remarks are closely linked to the outcomes of a recent workshop in Port Sudan, sponsored by the Sudanese Army. The workshop, which discussed the “redefinition of Sudanese identity,” reflected the army supporters’ stance who launched a campaign on social media platforms advocating the revocation of citizenship for those tribal groups who showed tepid response and participation in the army’s recruitment efforts during its conflict with the Rapid Support Forces.
Further, these sources warned that such statements might reignite tribal clashes that have previously resulted in numerous deaths and injuries among tribal components in the region.
Meanwhile, social media platforms circulated a video showing a group in military attire near Al-Ubayyid city, cheering as they executed several civilians, claiming the victims were leaders within the Rapid Support Forces. Following a similar incident, the army’s leadership announced an investigation into the crime, though results have yet to be published.
Political leaders and human rights groups have condemned the incident, describing it as a “terrorist crime.” Salah Manaa, assistant president of the Umma National Party, confirmed the incident’s occurrence in Al-Ubayyid, the capital of North Kordofan in western Sudan. He emphasized that the victims were unarmed civilians unrelated to the Rapid Support Forces, except for being part of an ethnic group that supports them.
Khaled Omar Yousif, a member of the leadership office of the Civil Democratic Forces Coordination and vice president of the Sudanese Congress Party, described the incident as “terrorist behavior escalating and leading to a comprehensive war fueled by societal grievances and vendettas, sparing no one.” Yousif called for condemning the crime as a criminal act and prosecuting those responsible, vowing to expose the atrocities of the war and hold accountable those behind it, while pushing for peace initiatives to end the conflict permanently.
The Rapid Support Forces currently control most of North Kordofan, besieging Al-Ubayyid from all sides, with periodic military operations and mutual shelling causing civilian casualties in several city districts.
